Simple Choices
by rebelrsr
Chapter 13
[reviews]
Disclaimer: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and lots of people in expensive suits. I'm not making any money here, just trying to create a happier Buffyverse for my favorite characters.
Spoilers: I borrow heavily from "The I in Team" for this chapter. Big alterations ahead for the remainder of S5. Eh, who am I kidding? This is really AU now.
A/N: Thanks to the best beta crew: Zigpal and Zenithar. There would be no writing without you guys.
Slayer and witch broke apart, staring after the fleeing girl. "Damn it. Why is there always something keeping us apart?" Buffy growled. Willow didn't respond, remaining frozen. "Will? Hey, what's the matter?"
Shaking her head slightly, the redhead tore her eyes away from the back door. "Did you see her? Oh, Goddess. We...I just hurt her so much. I didn't want to hurt her, Buffy. I didn't," she babbled. Tears streaked the freckled cheeks.
Buffy pulled Willow into her arms, stroking warm hands up and down her back. Although a part of her was secretly doing a victory dance, she could tell the girl in her arms was devastated. "No matter what, somebody's gonna get hurt," she muttered. *Thank God it's not me.* When Willow stiffened even more, the Slayer rushed on, "But, the important thing is, you, um, we just have to be honest." She pulled back, watching Willow for reactions. "If we don't, it'll just be a whole lot worse."
Willow looked incredibly sad. "Yeah. I just hope we have time to talk to her, Buff. I mean, with Adam and all..." she trailed off.
"Speaking of Adam, Wills, we need to get inside." Buffy took Willow by the hand, leading her toward the house. Before they rejoined the gang, the Slayer said firmly, "We'll tell everyone together, how's that? We get rid of Adam, make sure Faith isn't going to go evil again, and we have a Scooby meeting." She bit her lip. "I know I haven't been big with the sharing lately. OK, maybe not ever, but this isn't something I want to hide or lie about, Will."
Willow nodded. "No hiding. But I don't think this is the time for our big coming out party. Let's get in there and find out what big and creepy's up to now. Maybe the computer found something or Giles located a spell." She kissed Buffy quickly and then pulled away completely, smoothing her rumpled clothing. "Back to business, Slayer."
"Business, oh joy," Buffy bitched, following Willow inside. *Some days, I so hate this job.*
The scene inside was tense. A small TV played in the living room while Giles and Joyce huddled close to the screen.
"Mom, Giles, what's up?" Buffy asked. Her Slayer hearing picked that moment to kick in and she stopped abruptly. "Oh, God, tell me he really didn't kill a little kid?" She felt sick, stomach roiling as the newscaster cheerfully continued.
"What?" Willow said. She hurried across the room, dropping to sit between Giles and Mrs. Summers, peering at the images on the TV. A grainy shot of Adam, staring directly into the camera, appeared. In his arms was the remains of a child, head blurred out to protect at least some privacy.
Numbly, the Slayer staggered into the room and dropped onto the couch. Closing her eyes against the terrible sight, Buffy listened to the news bulletin.
"...in Sunnydale. The town is known for its high crime rate and missing person's reports, but this is even stranger than usual. A family traveling through the small town videotaped what was at first believed to be a scene of a movie reportedly being filmed in the area. However, the unidentified man shown in the video left the body seen in his arms just outside a church. The body..."
"Turn it off," Buffy ordered flatly. Rage pounded behind her eyes, and she clenched her fists to keep from lashing out at anyone, anything nearby. "Where's Tara?"
Sounding the least bit hesitant, perhaps sensing the emotions his charge was barely controlling, Giles answered, "She's in one of the bedrooms, resting."
Opening her eyes, Buffy glared at her Watcher. "Get her up. Have her undo the sleep spell on Faith. It's time to stop hiding." A cold smile twisted her lips. "We're going hunting."
"Buffy, I don't think-" Giles began until a warm hand lightly touched his arm. He looked down at Willow.
"Go ahead, Giles. We'll need the others to help." The redhead smiled at him and then turned to Joyce. "Mrs. Summers, could you fix us all something to eat and give Xan a call? We're going to need him and Anya, too." The two adults did as ordered, leaving Buffy and Willow alone.
"I'm not changing my mind," Buffy declared, arms crossed.
Willow simply nodded, gazing at her friend. "So, we just storm the Initiative base? Go in with magic blazing and you and Faith kicking Marine ass till we find Adam?" She kept her voice level with an effort.
Frowning, Buffy nodded. "Sounds about right. He killed someone, Wills. Not just any someone, but a little boy, and he's *taunting* us with it." Her voice rose as she spoke.
"I get that, sweetie, but we kinda need a plan." Willow moved slowly over and knelt in front of Buffy. "You aren't responsible for that boy, Buffy. Dr. Walsh, the Initiative, the Government — *they* built Adam." She stroked the pale face above her. "If we go in like you want, we'll lose."
Leaning forward, the Slayer pressed her lips to Willow's hands. "I can't let him go on a killing spree. We have to find a way to stop him. If we hadn't been holed up here..."
Smiling gently, Willow caressed narrow fingers over Buffy's face. "If we hadn't been here, it might have been you he killed, Buffy. We can't think like that. We're the Scoobies. We research, we plan, and then we execute. It's kept us alive, with one very notable exception, for almost three years. You don't just change that kind of pattern on a whim, sweetie." She pulled away. "What's really wrong, Buffy? You haven't been yourself since last night in the Bronze. I mean, first you're all over Riley and Ms. Gung Ho Marine Recruit and the next time I see you, it's war with the Initiative."
"Was I supposed to let Walsh kill me?" Buffy was incredulous.
"No!" The two squared off. "But you aren't yourself. I've never seen you this aggressive. What the hell are you thinking? Run off and fight Adam with no plan? We didn't even phase him tonight."
"I'm thinking I want to get rid of him."
Willow threw her hands in the air. "How? How do we do that, Buffy? I have nothing from the computer. Adam laughed at my magic and he traced Tara. She's not an amateur like me. She's way strong. You tell me how we beat him, and I'll back you a hundred percent."
"B?" Faith's groggy voice interrupted from the hallway. "We got trouble?"
Tearing her eyes away from the quietly determined Willow, Buffy looked at her sister Slayer. "Yeah, Faith. Big trouble." She got up and helped Faith to the couch. "Sorry you didn't get to sleep. I...I don't think I'm up for this on my own, you know?"
Still looking pale and wan, Faith nodded. "Gotcha, B. I'm feeling better. Blondie musta got the Slayer healing on line, 'cause I can tell I'm not aching as much."
Buffy nodded, watching as Giles and Tara reentered the room. Giles sat across the small room in the armchair while the blonde witch took a position on the floor near his feet.
"OK," Buffy began, voice quiet but intense, "Adam's crossed the line. Mom and Giles caught a new report. He killed a little boy and he let himself get photographed."
"Nice. Did he sign autographs, too?" Faith inquired. She pushed herself into a more upright position. "You got a plan, B?"
Smiling tightly, the blonde Slayer nodded. "I do. It doesn't have the Wills stamp of approval, though. We need answers, quick. We need to take him out before he has a chance to do anything worse than this murder."
"Wh-what did you have in mind?" Tara asked quietly. She sat hunched forward, long hair obscuring her face.
Willow answered for Buffy. "Oh, you know, storming the castle, taking no prisoners." She waved at her computer. "I've got a small hook into the system. So far, it hasn't let me access more than some redundant backup programming, but I think I can use it for a backdoor."
Four sets of eyes stared at her.
"Oookay. I'm sensing some confusion," Willow mumbled, thinking hard. "I got into the system, but I can only get to pretty useless places. Maybe there's a way to use that to build a path into the main program. Does that help?"
The eyes looked a little clearer, but no one jumped in to reassure her.
"Fine! It's helping, but we need more," she grumbled. "Giles, Tara, any magical solutions?
The ex-Watcher cleared his throat. "I'm afraid without more information on Adam's construction, the risk is simply too great."
Buffy sprang off the couch and crossed the room. "What risk? The risk that that bastard kills again?"
"Buffy!" Willow was shocked at the Slayer's intensity.
"Hey, before you two throw down or whatever, can we get some info on why this Adam thing let himself get caught on film?" Faith's eyes were half closed, but she watched the scene in front of her closely. "I mean, I don't know the whole story, but we met with those soldier boys and I thought the dude was super secret. If he's been hiding out for so long, why the big show?"
Buffy looked lost. "I don't...what do you mean?"
Shaking her head in disbelief, Faith explained, "Come on, B. Use your head. The Tin Man's got a great setup. No one knows where he is or how to stop him. I mean SunnyD folks are real good at ignoring the weird and the fangy. It's like he went out of his way to find this guy with a camera. If he's on a killing binge, why not kill the cameraman, too?"
"Bloody hell." Giles whipped off his glasses and rubbed tired eyes. "That makes far too much sense."
Willow looked up from her laptop. "Yeah, but now I'm kinda wondering, too. Why?" She typed some commands on the keyboard. "What does Adam have to gain by going public?"
"Dinner's on if anyone's interested," Joyce said quietly. She'd heard the last part of the conversation, and watched the Scoobies mull over their problems. "Xander and Anya are on the way. He said to tell you he'd be careful and make sure they weren't followed."
"Sorry, B, but with the new healing and all, I could eat a horse. Can we take a break or talk in the kitchen?" Faith asked. She pushed off the couch, standing straighter than before. "I'm on my way, Mrs. S. Think this time I might be able to do some damage." She grinned at the older woman.
"Wonderful. I can't wait to sneak back out and try to get groceries with a lunatic on the loose," Joyce said dryly. Then she smiled, "There are sandwiches and chips on the counter. Not very exciting, but it should keep you from starving."
Faith's slow progress toward the kitchen heralded a change in venue. All the Scoobies trooped into the dark room. A single oil lamp illuminated the impressive stack of sandwiches and bags of chips.
Once everyone had munchies, Buffy started up again, though the edge had dropped from her voice. "Alright, if we don't go in the front, guns blazing, how do we take Adam out?"
"Do we even know where he's holed up?" Faith asked around a mouthful of food.
Flushing brightly, Buffy shook her head.
Swallowing, Faith said, "Then it ain't real important how we beat the Tin Man. First we gotta find him."
"I can do that," Tara offered. When everyone looked at her, she dropped her eyes. "He's already experienced my power signature. We can recreate the spell from last night to try and locate him. Once he's locked onto me, actively searching, we can lead him where we want him."